Bill Text: NY A06634 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relates to age and service eligibility requirements for ordinary retirement for members of the unified court system; restores 55/30 for all members; reduces the retirement age from 63 to 62.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2022-02-15 - reported referred to ways and means [A06634 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A06634-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          6634

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                     March 23, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. ABBATE -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Governmental Employees

        AN  ACT  to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
          eligibility for retirement benefits for certain members of the unified
          court system

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Subdivision a of section 503 of the retirement and social
     2  security law, as amended by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012,  is  amended
     3  to read as follows:
     4    a.  The  normal  service  retirement benefit specified in section five
     5  hundred four of this article shall be payable to general members,  other
     6  than  elective  members,  who  have met the minimum service requirements
     7  upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-two,  provided,  however,  a
     8  general  member  who  is  a  peace officer employed by the unified court
     9  system or a member of a teachers' retirement system may  retire  without
    10  reduction  of  his or her retirement benefit upon attainment of at least
    11  fifty-five years of age and  completion  of  thirty  or  more  years  of
    12  service.  For members who become members of the New York state and local
    13  employees' retirement system on  or  after  April  first,  two  thousand
    14  twelve, the normal service retirement benefits specified in section five
    15  hundred  four of this article shall be payable to general members, other
    16  than elective members, who have met  the  minimum  service  requirements
    17  upon  retirement  and  attainment  of  age sixty-three; provided that, a
    18  member who is a peace officer employed by the unified court  system  may
    19  retire  without  reduction of his or her retirement benefit upon attain-
    20  ment of at least fifty-five years of age and  completion  of  thirty  or
    21  more years of service.
    22    §  2.  Subdivisions  a  and  a-1  of section 603 of the retirement and
    23  social security law, subdivision a as amended  and  subdivision  a-1  as
    24  added by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, are amended to read as follows:

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD08564-02-1
        A. 6634                             2

     1    a.  The  service  retirement  benefit specified in section six hundred
     2  four of this article shall be payable to members who have met the  mini-
     3  mum  service  requirements  upon retirement and attainment of age sixty-
     4  two, other than members who are eligible for  early  service  retirement
     5  pursuant to subdivision c of section six hundred four-b of this article,
     6  subdivision c of section six hundred four-c of this article, subdivision
     7  d  of  section  six  hundred  four-d  of  this article, subdivision c of
     8  section six hundred four-e of this article, subdivision c of section six
     9  hundred four-f of this article, subdivision c  of  section  six  hundred
    10  four-g  of  this article, subdivision c of section six hundred four-h of
    11  this article or subdivision c of section  six  hundred  four-i  of  this
    12  article, provided, however, a member of a teachers' retirement system or
    13  the  New  York  state  and  local employees' retirement system who first
    14  joins such system before January first, two thousand ten or a member who
    15  is a uniformed court officer or peace officer employed  by  the  unified
    16  court system [who first becomes a member of the New York state and local
    17  employees'  retirement  system  before April first, two thousand twelve]
    18  may retire without reduction of  his  or  her  retirement  benefit  upon
    19  attainment  of at least fifty-five years of age and completion of thirty
    20  or more years of service, provided,  however,  that  a  uniformed  court
    21  officer  or peace officer employed by the unified court system who first
    22  becomes a member of the New York state and local  employees'  retirement
    23  system  on  or after January first, two thousand ten and retires without
    24  reduction of his or her retirement benefit upon attainment of  at  least
    25  fifty-five  years  of  age  and  completion  of  thirty or more years of
    26  service pursuant to this section shall be required to  make  the  member
    27  contributions  required by subdivision f of section six hundred thirteen
    28  of this article for  all  years  of  credited  and  creditable  service,
    29  provided further that the [the] preceding provisions of this subdivision
    30  shall not apply to a New York city revised plan member.
    31    a-1.  For  members  who  first  become a member of a public retirement
    32  system of the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve, except
    33  for uniformed court officers or peace officers employed by  the  unified
    34  court  system,  the  service retirement benefit specified in section six
    35  hundred four of this article shall be payable to members  who  have  met
    36  the  minimum  service requirements upon retirement and have attained age
    37  sixty-three.
    38    § 3. Subdivisions a and b-1 of  section  604  of  the  retirement  and
    39  social  security  law,  subdivision  a as amended and subdivision b-1 as
    40  added by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, are amended to read as follows:
    41    a. The service retirement benefit  at  normal  retirement  age  for  a
    42  member  with  less  than  twenty years of credited service, or less than
    43  twenty-five years credited service for a member who joins the  New  York
    44  state  teachers'  retirement system on or after January first, two thou-
    45  sand ten, shall be a retirement allowance equal to one-sixtieth of final
    46  average salary times years of credited service.  Normal  retirement  age
    47  for  members  who  first become members of a public retirement system of
    48  the state on or after April first, two  thousand  twelve  shall  be  age
    49  sixty-three;  except  that  the normal retirement age shall be sixty-two
    50  for a member who is a peace officer or uniformed court officer  employed
    51  by the unified court system.
    52    b-1.  Notwithstanding  any other provision of law to the contrary, the
    53  service retirement benefit for members with  twenty  or  more  years  of
    54  [credit]  credited service who first become a member of a public retire-
    55  ment system of the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve at
    56  age sixty-three, or at age sixty-two for  uniformed  court  officers  or
        A. 6634                             3

     1  peace  officers employed by the unified court system, shall be a pension
     2  equal to the sum of thirty-five per centum  and  one-fiftieth  of  final
     3  average  salary for each year of service in excess of twenty times final
     4  average  salary  times  years of credited service. In no event shall any
     5  retirement benefit payable without optional modification  be  less  than
     6  the  actuarially  equivalent  annuitized  value of the member's contrib-
     7  utions accumulated with interest at five percent  per  annum  compounded
     8  annually to the date of retirement.
     9    § 4. Paragraph 3 of subdivision i of section 603 of the retirement and
    10  social  security  law,  as  added  by chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is
    11  amended to read as follows:
    12    3. A member of a public retirement system of the state who has met the
    13  minimum service requirement, but who is not  a  New  York  city  transit
    14  authority  member,  as  defined  in  paragraph  one  of subdivision a of
    15  section six hundred four-b of this article, may retire prior  to  normal
    16  retirement  age,  but  no  earlier than attainment of age fifty-five, in
    17  which event, the amount of his or her retirement benefit computed  with-
    18  out  optional  modification  shall  be  reduced  by six and one-half per
    19  centum for each year by which early retirement precedes age sixty-three;
    20  provided, however, that for a member who is a uniformed court officer or
    21  peace officer employed by the unified court system, the retirement bene-
    22  fit computed without optional modification shall be reduced  in  accord-
    23  ance with paragraph one of this subdivision.
    24    §  5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none
    25  of the provisions of this act shall  be  subject  to  the  appropriation
    26  requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law.
    27    §  6. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that the amend-
    28  ments to subdivision a of section 603 of the retirement and social secu-
    29  rity law made by section two of this act shall not affect the expiration
    30  of such subdivision and shall be deemed to expire therewith.
          FISCAL NOTE.-- Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
          This bill would allow any Tier 6 member who is a uniformed court offi-
        cer or peace officer employed by the  unified  court  system  to  retire
        without  early  age  reduction  upon  attaining  30  years of creditable
        service and age 55. It would also reduce the normal retirement age  from
        63  to  62,  and  lessen the reductions in benefits for those who retire
        prior to normal retirement age.
          If this bill is enacted during the 2021 legislative session, we antic-
        ipate that there will be an increase in contributions  of  approximately
        1.1%  of  the compensation of the affected members.  For the fiscal year
        ending March 31, 2021,  this  is  estimated  to  be  approximately  $1.1
        million.  In  future years, this cost will vary as the billing rates and
        salary of the affected members change.
          In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
        an immediate past service cost of approximately $4.60 million which will
        be borne by the state of New York as a one-time payment.  This  estimate
        is based on the assumption that payment will be made on March 1, 2022.
          These  estimated costs are based on 1,311 affected members employed by
        the unified court system as a uniformed court officer or  peace  officer
        with  a total estimated annual salary of approximately $84 million as of
        March 31, 2020.
          Summary of relevant resources:
          Membership data as of March 31, 2020 was used in measuring the  impact
        of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2020 actuari-
        al  valuation.    Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
        A. 6634                             4

        2020 Report of the Actuary and the 2020 Comprehensive  Annual  Financial
        Report.
          The  actuarial  assumptions and methods used are described in the 2020
        Annual Report to the  Comptroller  on  Actuarial  Assumptions,  and  the
        Codes,  Rules  and  Regulations  of  the  State  of  New York: Audit and
        Control.
          The Market Assets and GASB Disclosures are found in the March 31, 2020
        New York State and Local  Retirement  System  Financial  Statements  and
        Supplementary Information.
          I am a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and meet the Quali-
        fication Standards to render the actuarial opinion contained herein.
          This  fiscal note does not constitute a legal opinion on the viability
        of the proposed change nor is it intended to serve as a  substitute  for
        the professional judgment of an attorney.
          This  estimate,  dated March 9, 2021, and intended for use only during
        the 2021 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2021-104,  prepared  by
        the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.